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According to findings discussed at the SNMMI Annual Meeting, NaF-PET/CT demonstrated higher sensitivity, specificity and positive and negative predictive value than planar bone scintigraphy and SPECT/CT in diagnosing bone metastases. The study also found that NaF-PET/CT resulted in fewer ambiguous scans than planar bone scintigraphy. More studies are needed to support a shift in strategy, researcher Johan Lofgren said.

Related Summaries

A study published in the Annals of Oncology reported that PET/CT using 18F-labeled sodium fluoride is more sensitive at detecting bone metastases from renal cell carcinoma than conventional bone scintigraphy or CT. The study looked at 77 malignant lesions in 10 patients, and 18F-NaF PET/CT was able to detect all of them, whereas bone scintigraphy/SPECT and CT identified 29% and 46% of lesions, respectively.

A study presented at the American Roentgen Ray Society meeting showed that hybrid SPECT/CT can determine the source of gastrointestinal bleeding in patients with inconclusive planar 99mTc-labeled red blood cell scintigraphy results with 100% accuracy. SPECT/CT findings matched those from surgery and other procedures in 18 patients whose bleeding source was confirmed.

NaF-PET/CT showed higher sensitivity in identifying bone metastases in patients with prostate cancer, while diffusion-weighted MRI demonstrated higher specificity, according to a study published in the American Journal of Roentgenology. The findings indicate that the two techniques may perform better than bone scintigraphy, the standard method, in detecting bone metastases in this patient population, researchers said.

PET/CT imaging that used both NaF and FDG tracers detected more bone metastases than NaF-PET/CT only, FDG-PET/CT only and CT only, according to a study presented at the SNM Annual Meeting that involved patients with bone cancer. Use of the combined protocol could help reduce costs and improve convenience for patients, researchers said.

An Austrian study on 70 men with biopsy-proven prostate cancer found that PET/CT using F18 fluorocholine had 79% sensitivity, 97% specificity and 84% accuracy in identifying the patients with bone metastases. Of the 262 lesions that showed increased uptake in the study, 210 were determined to be bone metastases. The findings point to the potential of FCH-PET/CT in early diagnosing of bone metastases in prostate cancer patients.